Ichiraku Tales
by Payce D. Elui
Summary: A series of random, sometimes connected Naruto oneshots ranging from serious to silly. May include spoilers from the latest manga/anime. Separate warning per chapter. ::Giftfics::


**Chapter Title: [Hindsight 20/20]**

**Summary: **Oneshot, Spoilers for Manga Chapters 482 - 478. Following the disastrous meeting with Sasuke, Team Kakashi head back to Konoha. Sakura's having a bad day

**Author's Note: **This chapter is brought to by the ramblings of the awesomeness that is **Nemrut **while we were having a conversation about Sakura's LolPlan... He was the voice of Kiba! Kinda light-hearted, from the both of us, enjoy :)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own this

**WARNING: Spoilers for Naruto Manga Chapters 482 - 478**

**Published: 12 June 2010**

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Naruto swayed.

Shifting Karin on his back and staring at the mess in front of them, Kakashi turned to his lone female student with a vaguely disapproving sigh.

"Sakura..." The girl fidgeted. "They were trying to help. Wake them up and apologise."

"A-Alright..." She sounded embarrassed. Good, hopefully she wouldn't try and repeat her actions at a later date. Before she could move however, Naruto stumbled forward in order to do the job for her.

"Naruto," Sakura started hesitantly, "it was my fault... so be gentle with the-"

Naruto fell onto his back with a meaty plop. A mumble of _"I still dun feel so good"_ was left unheard as Sakura felt her eyebrow tick in annoyance.

"Now you're going to sleep, too?" Anything else she had to say got choked in her throat as Karin poked her head over Kakashi's shoulder, an eyebrow raised and a spectacularly unimpressed look on her face.

"It's your fault- Sakura, was it? - that Naruto's in this condition in the first place."

Sakura's face flushed and Kakashi chuckled.

* * *

On awakening, things had gone from bad to worse. While Sai had seemed vaguely indifferent to being caught off guard in her attack and Lee had been understanding, Kiba was a whole other ball game.

"I was the one that found Sasuke for you!" Striding up and down, up and down, he spun on his heel to level a glare at the pink haired girl who'd suddenly seemed to shrink.

"Come now, Kiba, don't be mad," Kakashi said, trying to placate the boy. Kiba carried on regardless, arms stretched to the heavens.

"Why'd _you _get to have all the fun?" He scowled at Sai. "And Sai told Naruto everything so now Sasuke ended up getting awa-"

"Man up and quit your bitching, Kiba!" Naruto interjected, annoyed.

Kiba spluttered. "You're the one who's always bitching!"

Sai chuckled. "You're right! For someone so simple he sure over-thinks things..."

Kakashi sighed as the eruption of Mount Uzumaki began and turned his head to the sky, Rock Lee chuckling the entire way. Past noon. They should be getting back to the village. Between heading after Naruto, being appointed the leader of Konoha's side of the alliance, and facing off with his old pupil, time had flown.

He tilted his head to the side, watching as the new arrivals dropped out of the thicket. By the demands they were making of Sai, he could guess that they were ANBU ROOT.

A glance to the other side and he noticed Kiba still muttering furiously under his breath, Sakura's fist getting tighter and tighter. Shifting Karin slightly, he cleared his throat, grabbing the attention of those around him.

"We should get back to Konoha- we can talk more once we're in secure territory." A little more grumbling from Kiba and they were off.

This was going to be a long journey home.

* * *

Sakura first noticed something was amiss when, after seeing how weary both Naruto and Kakashi-sensei were, she offered them one of her special food pills. Sai, being closest to Kiba, had promptly lost his footing and plummeted from the branch he was jumping from as Kiba muttered something under his breath.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, noticing the vaguely amused look on Sai's face as he righted himself. Feeling slightly guilty, she offered the next food pill to Kiba, who politely declined.

Sai sniggered.

"What? Sakura's asked, hair blowing as she jumped to the next branch.

"Kiba wouldn't take a food pill from you, Ugly." Ignoring the unsightly nickname, Sakura's eyebrow raised further.

"Why not?"

Taking account of Sakura's already half-clenched fist, Sai carefully manoeuvred away from the girl and towards Kakashi before the next words came from his mouth. "I believe his exact words were: _'taking a pill from Sakura? I mean, drug me once, shame on you, drug me twice...'" _The smile on Sai's face grew several inches as Sakura's face flamed.

"Sai!" Naruto yelled.

"Don't blame me, Dickless, blame Fang-Face over there."

While Naruto exploded at Kiba, waving the food pill around like a dagger, mind you, Sakura feeling a little guilty, (she'd deserved that reaction, after all), turned to find Kakashi hefting Karin slightly and _examining_ his own pill.

"Sensei!" Sakura cried, slightly scandalised. He didn't really think that she'd-... _did he?_

Kakashi chuckled. "Now, now, Sakura, I was only teasing." A last sniff to the pill and he jumped to another branch. The pill was gone. Karin was looking vaguely disappointed- she hadn't even seen the man remove his mask!

A cry of _"well Sakura-chan wouldn't poison me-"_, a mutter of _"not on purpose anyways," _and Sakura turned to find Naruto stuffing the food pill in his mouth, promptly tearing up at the awful taste. As beautiful as Sakura-chan obviously was, her skills were really not well suited for the kitchen.

Even Lee cracked a smile at that.

Swallowing any angry retorts- she _had_ deserved that one crack, after all, Sakura continued on, maturely ignoring them.

Until however...

"We've been on the road for hours. How _long _is it going to take to get to Konoha, _anyway_?" Karin was tired of being carried around like a sack of potatoes.

Before Kakashi could open his mouth, Kiba cut in. "Well, unless Sakura drugs us, we should arrive in two hours."

Naruto snorted, hastily covering his mouth and disguising it as a cough. Akamaru barked in approval. Sai snickered and even Lee smiled discreetly.

Sakura landed on the next branch rather heavily.

"Cut it out Kiba-" Naruto snapped, trying to keep a straight face. They shouldn't be making fun of Sakura-chan, after all.

Kiba snickered. "Or what?"

"Or I'll kick your ass!"

"I'd like to see you-"

"Oi, Kiba, he's right. Leave it," Sai suddenly interjected, perfectly serious. Naruto beamed at Sai for showing team spirit while Kiba spluttered. Sai smiled. "If you don't, Sakura may drug you again and leave you for the dogs."

As the scrunch of leather crackled through the trees- Sakura's fists were getting tighter as time wore on- Naruto choked before leaping at the pale boy. He was restrained by the three ANBU ROOT members before he could reach his target.

"_Naruto,_" Kiba drawled. "Cut it out of I'll tell Sakura to drug your ass and get Akamaru to _drag _you back to Konoha."

Clearing his throat and taking pity on his pink haired, red faced student, Kakashi sighed. "That's enough. You're Konoha shinobi- what's done is done. You're going to have to all get along when we get to Konoha- especially as we're now in a wartime situation and with the village in the state it's in. You'll need to fulfil your duties professionally. Enough is enough."

A small silence.

"Yosh! Kakashi-sensei is right! We must put Sakura-san's slight unyouthfull spell behind us to protect the will of fire!" Lee nodded assuredly.

Kakashi nodded appreciatively, if not a little warily. Gai's student had taken after him in almost every aspect, it seemed. Not that there was anything bad about that...

"Well, sensei- you're being recognised as Hokage- at least until Tsunade-sama wakes up," Sakura said hesitantly, trying to move past the embarrassment. "What kind of duties will you be assigning?" She grinned. "I doubt you'll have time to read those books of yours anymore."

Kakashi shifted Karin for the umpteenth time. "Ah, the usual. Guard duty, renting out missions and signing papers..." he seemed vaguely depressed. "But, Tsunade-sama should be waking up soon- I won't be away from my books for long!"

Sakura smiled.

"Well, the Inuzuka, Hyuuga and Aburame clans usually deal with guard duty if the village walls are impaired," Kiba added suddenly, cracking his neck. "So I'll probably be doing that. I don't see the point though, really...seeing as Sakura's going to drug us, anyway, eh, Sai?"

"Kiba!"

Kakashi sighed. Kids these days.

Sakura on the other hand was wondering how long it would take for Kiba to forget this whole incident. From the glint in his eye, she didn't think it would be any time soon- at least not without a chance at payback.

... She was right of course. For as soon as they touched down in Konoha, Kiba bid them a hearty farewell and went to look for a certain Hyuuga teammate of his. She'd not be too happy to find out about a certain confession the female member of Team 7 had made.

... Revenge was sweet.

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**Authors Note: **the first half is speech/events taken from the manga. Kiba's/Sai's awesome lines were channelled by Nemrut! Not a flame fest, just some light-hearted humour. Because really, even if you screw your friends over for what you think is their best interests, although they'll forgive you, they'll never let you forget it ;)


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